President Vladimir Putin led Russia’s Victory Day parade on Friday, May 9, 2025, marking 80 years since Nazi Germany’s defeat in 1945.
More than 20 foreign leaders attended, including China’s Xi Jinping and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The Kremlin called this year’s celebration its “biggest ever,” aiming to showcase power despite ongoing war with Ukraine.
Putin announced a three-day “humanitarian” truce during the holiday, though Ukraine dismissed it as propaganda and a “parade of cynicism.”
The event opened with military vehicles and thousands of troops marching across Red Square.
T-90M tanks and advanced weaponry rolled past in a carefully choreographed display of military force.
Putin praised the Soviet army, comparing its WWII legacy to Russian troops now fighting in Ukraine.
He proposed a toast to “victory” at a state dinner for foreign dignitaries attending the event.
Putin has made Victory Day Russia’s most important holiday during his 25 years in power.
Russian officials said mobile internet was jammed in Moscow due to threats of Ukrainian drone attacks.
Parade attendees were banned from bringing vape pens, electric scooters, or animals into secured areas.
Despite the declared ceasefire, Kyiv reported hundreds of Russian attacks during the supposed holiday truce.
Ukraine said Russia’s Victory Day had “nothing to do with defeating Nazism” and accused participants of complicity.
Xi Jinping held a private Kremlin meeting with Putin on Thursday before the parade began.
Putin called Xi his dear friend, and the leaders pledged unity against Western “historical distortion.”
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico was the only EU leader to attend, defying Brussels’ warnings.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, whose country maintains ties with Moscow, also participated in the ceremony.
Victory Day in Russia honors the Soviet role in WWII, officially called the “Great Patriotic War.”
Historical accounts rarely mention the 1939–1941 non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
The USSR lost more than 20 million people in WWII, a national trauma Putin often invokes.
Since invading Ukraine in 2022, Putin has linked the war to “de-Nazifying” Ukraine—a claim widely rejected internationally.
Russian schoolbooks now call Ukraine “ultra-national
